Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting the CAMEO website, a service provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Response and Restoration.

This policy explains how we handle information we learn about you during your visit. Please be assured that the privacy of our visitors is of utmost importance to us. We do not collect personal information that would allow us to identify you by name or contact you directly (such as your email address), unless you choose to provide that information to us voluntarily via email.

General Information Collected and Stored Automatically

We will automatically collect and store some general information about your site visit, but this information does not identify you personally.

Examples of the general information collected during a visit:

  • Date and time
  • Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" or "yourschool.edu")
  • IP address (an Internet Protocol address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are online)
  • Type of internet browser and computer operating system used to access our site (if provided by the browser)
  • URL of the page that referred you to our site (if provided by the browser)
  • Pages visited on our site

We use this information to help us make our site more useful to visitors; for example, to learn how people visit the pages on our site, to find out which pages are of most interest to visitors, and to identify problems people are encountering on our site.

These general information logs may be preserved indefinitely to assist with site management.

Personal Information That You Voluntarily Provide by Email

We do not collect personally identifiable information (such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, or addresses), unless you choose to provide it to us. If you send us an email, we use your information to respond to your request. Additionally, we may save your message in an email archive, which we use for site management purposes (for example, it is useful to see how many people asked a particular question).

We may share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency. In other limited circumstances, such as responses to requests from Congress and private individuals, we may be required by law to disclose information you submit.

By sending us personal information, you are giving consent for us to use the information for the stated purpose. We do not use information about you in any other ways (such as commercial marketing).

Interaction with Children

The content on this site is intended primarily for emergency responders and planners, and no content is specifically provided for children. If a child visits our site, no personally identifiable information is collected from them unless voluntarily submitted (via email) as a request for information. The information collected is used as described in the section above.

Cookies

"Cookies" are small bits of text that are either used for just the duration of a site visit ("session cookies") or saved on a user's computer in order to identify that user--or information about that user--the next time the user returns to a site ("persistent cookies").

This site does not use session cookies, persistent cookies, or any other persistent tracking technology. However, this site does use a third-party tool (Google Analytics) that provides basic information about site visitors using a persistent cookie, as described below.

Google Analytics

This site uses Google Analytics, a third-party web measurement and customization technology as defined and organized by the federal government's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies (PDF)external link.

Google Analytics uses a cookie to recognize your computer if you visit this site again in the future. (This is considered a Tier 2 service in the OMB guidance.) Google Analytics does not collect personally identifiable information through their cookie and does not combine, match, or cross-reference this website's information with any other information. Please review the Google Analytics privacy policyexternal link for additional information.

If you choose to disable this web measurement tool, you will still have full access to this site. While the details vary from browser to browser, most modern browsers can be set up to accept, reject, or request user intervention when a site asks to set a cookie. Google Analytics uses a cookie that begins with: _utm

Links to Other Sites

This site includes links to other websites for your convenience. This does not constitute an official endorsement or approval of those sites by the CAMEO software suite developers, nor is it a guarantee of the validity of the information provided on those sites.

Note that once you go to another site, you are subject to the privacy and security policies of the new site. It is a good idea to review that site's privacy policy to determine how it handles information collection.

Information Protection

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. If such monitoring reveals evidence of possible abuse or criminal activity, such evidence may be provided to appropriate law enforcement officials. Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information on this server are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act or other law.

Your Rights Under the Privacy Act

The Privacy Act of 1974external link provides safeguards against invasion of personal privacy through the misuse of records by agencies within the Executive Branch of the federal government.

The Privacy Act guarantees three primary rights for citizens of the United States and aliens who are lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence:

  • The right to see records about yourself, subject to Privacy Act exemptions;
  • The right to request the amendment of records that are not accurate, relevant, timely or complete; and
  • The right of individuals to be protected against unwarranted invasion of their privacy resulting from the collection, maintenance, use, and disclosure of personal information.

You may make a request to see personal information on yourselfexternal link. Requests will be processed under both the Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act to ensure the greatest access to your personal records.